If you walk dogs or sit pets for a living, the software question usually comes down to three options. Rover, the marketplace, brings clients to you and takes a cut. Time To Pet, the industry-specific tool, does almost everything a pet business could want and charges per staff member. And a booking platform like ProTyz gives you a website, recurring scheduling, and a client list for free, without the pet-specific depth.
Here's what a dog walking and pet sitting business needs from software, how we handle it at ProTyz, what Time To Pet does better (we'll be explicit), and who should pick what.
What a dog walking and pet sitting business needs
Recurring walks that book themselves
The core of a dog walking business is the Monday-Wednesday-Friday client. They want a standing schedule at a standing price, a little cheaper than a one-off, that keeps showing up on the right walker's day.
Pet records attached to the client
The client is a person. The work is about their dog: name, breed, size, temperament, vet, feeding notes, "does not like the mail carrier." That has to live on the client record where every walker can see it, not in one walker's head.
Per-walker schedules
Once you have more than one walker, each person needs their own day, on their own phone, with only their jobs. And you need to not double-book someone across a midday walk and an overnight sit.
Owning the client, and not paying per walker
The client who trusts you with their dog for a week at Thanksgiving is worth years of revenue. If that relationship belongs to a marketplace, you're renting your own business. And margins are thin: adding a fourth walker shouldn't add a fourth software fee.
How ProTyz handles it
ProTyz is a free CRM plus booking website for local service businesses, and Dog Walking & Pet Sitting is one of our ten launched service lines.
Recurring walks with a weekly ladder. Set up "30-minute walk" as a service, and the booking flow offers a frequency discount ladder (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) so the standing client gets the standing price. Priced inputs handle number of dogs; extras cover a longer walk or a feeding. The client sees a live itemized quote, passes a ZIP service-area check, picks a real open slot, and books.
Pet sitting and overnights. Set these up as their own services, or as quote-first: the client sends a quote request, you reply with a line-item quote, they accept via a link, and it becomes a booking. Deposits are recorded on the booking; card capture is deferred.
Pet records on the client. Clients are one record across everything you do, found or created by email, with addresses, pets, notes, and history. Every walker on the team sees the same pet notes.
Per-walker schedules. Team members are unlimited. Each has a schedule and unavailability, and the system won't double-book a person, even across service lines if you add one later. The mobile PWA at /mobile gives each walker their job list, GPS check-in with a geofence, photos, start and complete, and earnings. Routes optimizes a day's order; Payroll turns time entries into payroll runs.
Top Opportunities. A rule engine flags clients due for re-engagement: the weekly client who's gone quiet, the family who booked a sit last summer. You get an editable draft and press send (email on Free, SMS on Pro). It never messages a client on its own.
Reminders, reviews, website. 24-hour email reminders are free; 1-hour SMS reminders with CONFIRM/CANCEL replies are on Pro. A signed review-request link goes out after completed jobs. Your site (home, services, about, reviews, book, quote) lives on yourbusiness.protyz.com with your logo and colors; Pro adds a custom domain.
Invoicing. Invoicing is free on both plans: raise an invoice from a completed walk or sit, from an accepted quote, or from scratch, email it with a link to a read-only invoice page, send reminders, and record payments as they arrive. QuickBooks Online sync is on Pro.
Cost. Free is $0 forever with unlimited bookings, clients, team members, and service lines. Pro is $10 a month flat for SMS and a custom domain. No per-walker fees, no contracts, no card to start.
What Time To Pet does better
Time To Pet is built for exactly this business, and it shows.
- Visit report cards. After each walk or visit, the client gets a report with notes, photos, and what happened. Clients love these. ProTyz walkers can take photos on the job and you can message clients from the inbox, but there is no automatic per-visit report card.
- GPS walk maps. Time To Pet records the walk route and shows the client a map. ProTyz has GPS check-in with a geofence for the walker's arrival, but no live tracking or route map for the customer.
- Key management. Tracking which keys, codes, and lockboxes you hold for which home is a real pet-sitting problem. Time To Pet has dedicated key management. In ProTyz you'd keep that in client notes.
- Pet-specific depth generally. Structured vaccination and medication records, a client portal designed around pets, and invoices clients can pay by card.
If those features are why a client picks you over the walker down the street, Time To Pet is worth its price.
The per-staff math
Time To Pet's pricing as of mid-2026 is a $25 or $50 base plus roughly $16 per active staff member; check their pricing page for the current numbers. For a business with four walkers:
- Time To Pet: about $50 + 4 × $16 = roughly $114 a month, or about $89 on the lower base. Somewhere around $1,000 to $1,400 a year.
- ProTyz: $0 on Free, or $120 a year on Pro with SMS and a custom domain. Walkers are unlimited on both plans.
That difference buys a lot of the pet-specific features above, so the honest question is whether you use them.
Rover's fee and who owns the client
Rover charges sitters a service fee of about 20% on bookings, as of mid-2026; check Rover's current terms. On a $30 walk that's around $6, every walk, for as long as the client books through Rover.
The larger issue is the relationship. Booking and payment run through Rover, so your client is Rover's client. If you leave the platform, the client doesn't come with you. For a new walker with no clients, Rover is a reasonable start. For a business you plan to run for years, the goal is your own site and client list, with Rover as a lead source at most.
ProTyz never charges commission on bookings through your own site. A future marketplace will charge commission only on bookings it originates.
Time To Pet vs Rover vs ProTyz
Prices as of mid-2026; check each vendor's pricing page.
| Time To Pet | Rover | ProTyz | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $25 or $50 base + ~$16 per active staff | ~20% service fee on bookings | Free $0; Pro $10/mo flat |
| Cost with 4 walkers | ~$89–$114/mo | 20% of revenue | $0 or $10/mo |
| Own booking website | Client portal | Rover profile only | Yes, full site on your subdomain (custom domain on Pro) |
| Recurring walks with discount | Yes | Repeat bookings | Yes, weekly / bi-weekly / monthly ladder |
| Pet records on the client | Deep, structured | Basic | Pets, notes, addresses, history on one client record |
| Per-walker schedules and app | Yes, native app | Sitter app | Yes, mobile PWA |
| Visit report cards | Yes | Rover Cards | No |
| GPS walk map for client | Yes | Yes | No (walker GPS check-in only) |
| Key management | Yes | No | No (use notes) |
| Invoicing and card payments | Yes | Handled by Rover | Invoicing yes (free); no card capture (deposits recorded) |
| Who owns the client | You | Rover | You |
| Re-engagement of lapsed clients | Manual | No | Top Opportunities, one-click editable reach-out |
| Support | Email and help center | Help center | In-app tickets |
Who should pick what
- Brand new, no clients yet: Rover to get your first bookings, and a ProTyz site from day one so every client you win off-platform lands on a list you own.
- Solo walker or sitter with a steady book: ProTyz Free. Recurring walks, pet notes, reminders, reviews, and a real website for $0. Add Pro when SMS reminders are worth $10 a month to you.
- Two to six walkers, clients care about report cards and walk maps: Time To Pet. The per-staff fee is real, but so are the features, and they're what clients see.
- Two to six walkers, clients mostly want reliability and easy booking: ProTyz. Unlimited walkers, per-walker schedules, no double-booking, and Top Opportunities to bring back the quiet clients.
- Pet care plus another service line: ProTyz, because one login runs several service lines with one client list and one team.
FAQ
Does ProTyz have visit report cards or GPS walk maps? No. Walkers can take photos and check in by GPS at the door, and you can message clients from the inbox, but there is no automatic per-visit report card or client-facing walk map. Time To Pet has both.
How does ProTyz handle Monday-Wednesday-Friday clients? As a recurring booking with a frequency discount from the weekly / bi-weekly / monthly ladder. It shows up on the assigned walker's schedule and in their mobile app.
Where do pet details live? On the client record, alongside addresses, notes, and history. Every team member sees the same record.
What does ProTyz cost with four walkers? $0 on Free, or $10 a month on Pro. Team members are unlimited on both plans. Time To Pet would be roughly $89 to $114 a month for the same team, as of mid-2026.
Does ProTyz take a cut like Rover? No. Bookings through your own site carry no commission on any plan. A future marketplace will charge commission only on bookings it originates.
---
Start free at protyz.com — no card, about 15 minutes to a live booking page. See the dog walking lander at /for/dog-walking or click through a sample site at /demo/dog-walking.